We’d sent word ahead to Rhiannon that we needed to meet at the Veil House. It seemed easiest to go there rather than face the risk that spies might also be in the Summer Court.
As Check and Fearless moved to flank my sides, Grieve took the front. We had to make it to the Veil House on our own. We didn’t dare put our trust in the other guards until we knew they were safe. Though, it occurred to me that if they were out to assassinate me, they’d had plenty of time.
Maybe they aren’t aiming for a simple assassination, Cicely. Remember, Myst has a long memory. She prefers to toy with her quarry before she swoops in for the kill. She might be saving you for herself because she considers you a traitor, even though it was several lifetimes ago that you turned your back on her. Ulean was with us—she was sticking to my side like glue, for which I was extremely grateful.
The thought that Myst might be out for more than just my blood was almost more terrifying than the thought of actually fighting her. What she could—and probably would—do to me was more horrific than I wanted to think about.
“Come on, then. We’d best get a move on.” The Golden Wood was still covered in snow even though it was early February. Normally, New Forest, Washington, claimed some snow during the winter, especially out in the woodland areas, but nothing like this. This season had been like no other. Myst had rolled out her long night and blanketed the town with perpetual snow. But after spending a month in the realm of Winter, the weather felt almost balmy to me. While it was colder than normal in the forest, it was far colder in my new home.
We glided across the snows, running atop the four-foot-deep banks that filled the forest. The woods here were like most of those around western Washington. A playground for cedars and towering firs, the undergrowth grew so thick you needed a machete to get through the bracken and brambles, huckleberries, and waist-high ferns.
The ground beneath the snow was spongy during the spring and autumn, soft and filled with detritus from the long seasons gone past. Moss blanketed the sides of the trees and spread across the fallen logs and over the boulders that had tumbled through the valleys during the slow retreat of the glaciers during the last ice age.
But a new ice age was what Myst sought to bring about. Not content with the balance, she was looking to rule over the world, creating a snowy hunting ground for the Indigo Court. And the Golden Wood was her chosen place to make her stand. Home to both the Summer and Winter Courts of this region, the Twin Hollies led into my realm—the Court of Snow and Ice. Twin Oaks led into my cousin Rhiannon’s realm—the Court of Rivers and Rushes.
We shared the wood, and the balance entailed handing over rule on the summer and winter solstices, with each of us guarding our half of the year. Mine was the waning half, hers was the waxing. But Myst had destroyed the balance before we came to power. She had managed to wrest it away from Lainule, the former Queen of Rivers and Rushes, and Tabera, the late Queen of Snow and Ice. She had destroyed Tabera’s heartstone, killing the Winter Queen, and had managed to drive Lainule back to the Golden Isle.
Skimming the top of the snow was still a novelty for me. I hadn’t gotten used to being able to traverse the wintery fields as if I were gliding on air. Suddenly, for pure joy, I twirled, skating on the crust, delicate in my movements for the first time in my life.
Behind me, Check laughed gently. “Be careful, Your Highness. You can still slip and hurt yourself.”
“I’ve fallen so many times in my life it’s second nature.” And it was true. I’d spent my youth honing my skills in running away, dodging danger, and sneaking into apartments in order to ransack them for money. I’d learned how to climb through windows, drop down fire escapes, and edge out onto ledges in order to avoid people coming home before I was done pilfering their apartments. But, given all that, while I’d developed muscle and speed, I’d never considered myself graceful.
“Be that as it may, perhaps the skating should wait until we’re safely at home in our own realm.” Grieve glanced over his shoulder, a smile spreading across his face. He stopped suddenly, staring at me. “Cicely, you are so beautiful—look at you, in a mantle of white.”
I glanced down. I was wearing the owl-feather cloak, but the softly falling snow had blanketed me in a layer of flakes, freezing against my skin, against my hair. I was outlined in frost, in winter’s lacework shawl. I held out my hand and watched as the snow landed on my palm, not melting—but sitting there, crystalline and pristine.
The realization slowly filtered through that I was now colder than the snow. Colder than the dead. I had truly become the Queen of Snow and Ice, and though my heart pumped and blood raced through my veins, heat no longer translated through my body. I was winter incarnate, as frozen as the icicles hanging from the eaves.
Grieve moved to my side, reaching out his hand. In the same silence, we turned and began to run again, heading toward the Twin Oaks.
We were nearing the turnoff leading to the Marburry Barrow when a flutter of wings caught my attention. I glanced up. A great horned owl—looking much like my father, though I knew it couldn’t be—swept past. I shaded my eyes to gaze up at the circling form. As the owl swooped lower and lower, a noise of rustling bushes sounded behind us, and Check whirled, pulling out his sword. But it was Strict sweeping out of the trees, taking long strides.
He was almost to us when the owl suddenly spiraled down to land on a nearby log. Strict passed me with a perfunctory nod, then knelt by the owl and waited. My heart fluttered. I knew it wasn’t my father, but for Strict to kneel to anybody meant this was someone terribly important.
The owl was larger than my father was in owl form, with a wingspan that must have stretched over five feet in width. He was white, mottled with brown markings, and I had the feeling this bird had seen the decades come and go. I knew he was Uwilahsidhe—I could feel the connection between us even though I was only half-blood.
Strict motioned for me to come forward, and so I did, slowly approaching, all the while wondering whom I would be facing. Grieve followed behind me, as did Check and Fearless. We formed a semicircle around the log, with Check and Fearless holding our backs, keeping an eye out lest anything should come out of the undergrowth to attack us.
I closed my eyes, inhaling deeply. The scent of winter was all around—the smell of ozone from the storm tinged the air with its acrid scent. The tickle on the back of my neck told me we were expecting snow-thunder. The world felt on edge, poised and waiting. Ulean swept around me, and I could sense she was both excited and nervous.
Who is this? What’s going on?
I cannot tell you.
You know, though?
I do, but I was bound to silence by Wrath. Now, though, you shall know. I did not believe this day would happen—and I am both overjoyed that it is happening and filled with trepidation. I don’t know how you’ll feel. Or what you will think about this.
Yet another thing she hadn’t been allowed to tell me. Over the weeks, I’d discovered that Ulean knew far more about my life than Lainule had allowed her to reveal, and it appeared that was still the case. Ulean was bound to me, yes, but she was still enjoined by promises to the former Fae Queen.
I was about to push her for further information when the owl began to shift form. As we watched, he morphed, shimmering as wings shifted to arms, beak to nose, tufts to ears. A moment later, there, sitting on the log in front of us, was one of the Uwilahsidhe. His jet-black hair was streaked with gray, which told me he was incredibly old—the Fae didn’t gray the way magic-born and yummanii did, not until they had reached a great age. The man in front of us had probably lived for centuries, if not longer.